Legal Research

New York Public Library Declaration of Independence Exhibit

By David Badertscher, PLL

Source: The New York Public Library

From June 27, 2008 through August 2, 2008
Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Gallery (First Floor)
Humanities and Social Sciences Library, 5th Avenue and 42nd Street, New York, NY 10018-2788 (directions)
Hours:   Click here for schedule

The Library is honored to safeguard a fair copy (clean, full-text version without corrections or alterations) of the Declaration of Independence in Thomas Jefferson?s hand. In the days immediately following ratification on July 4, 1776, Jefferson made several copies of the text that had been submitted to the Continental Congress, underlining the passages to which changes had been made. The Library?s copy is one of two known to survive intact. It is shown together with the first Philadelphia printing and the first New York printing of the final version issued by Congress. These versions are complemented by the earliest newspaper printings; the second official version ordered by Congress, published by a woman printer in Baltimore; and a letter from Franklin to Washington mentioning that the Declaration was being drafted. In addition to the exhibition, the 14-minute film We Hold These Truths ?, a dramatic reading of the Declaration of Independence, will be shown continuously in the South Court Visitors? Center. Admission is free.

Be sure to check library hours and holidays for important information."

Submitted by Theodore Pollack, Sr. Law Librarian, NY County Public Access Law Library

Full post as published by New York Supreme Court Criminal Term Library on July 01, 2008 (boomark / email).